As Lewa and Laili make the transition from daily walks to night encounters, a recent after-dark outing led to an unusual encounter. The girls came across an otter at the end of the evening which provided some very interesting results. On first sighting, the lions began growling at the otter – as it stood right up and began growling with equal ferocity back at the pair! After the tense exchange Lewa actually managed to get past all the snarling teeth and grabbed hold of the otter – but her prey began to fight back and Lewa let go! Laili took over and gave chase as the otter made a run for it, but she lost out this time as the otter reached the safety of the water. A missed opportunity for the Ls, and a hearty respect for the little otter from all who were watching!

But this encounter hasn’t been there only one recently. On the 11th September the girls were on a walk and came across a herd of impala and almost immediately began chasing. Over the next hour or so the cubs chased, lost sight of the herd, came across the herd again – before chasing again. Eventually Lewa and Laili managed to herd the impala towards a river gully and almost immediately went into full chase mode and Lewa managed to position herself in the middle of the herd and caught an adult female! Not long after Laili showed up too and the cubs made a quick and swift kill and were left to enjoy the rewards of their hard efforts.

The stallion charges Paza

The Ps of Penya and Paza meanwhile have been focussing their attention on zebra. On a recent walk, Paza saw the zebra first and began a stalk towards the herd, but a lack of tall grass meant she was spotted almost instantly by the zebra. But undeterred she continued to head straight for the stallion – who was hanging back to defend his herd - while Penya flanked around to the left.

Paza tries her luck again

Having already spotted Paza, the herd grew more concerned when they also noticed the incoming Penya and began letting out warning calls. But the cubs’ fun was soon stopped when the stallion gave them a healthy reminder that they still have plenty to learn about prey interactions. Leaving the rest of the herd he turned and faced the stalking lioness. Paza stopped in her tracks and seemed slightly out of her depth when the stallion charged her head on at full speed.

With a bit of breathing room between them and the lions, the female zebra began to move off – under the watchful eye of their stallion. But as they proceeded the lions began their pursuit again but were once more met by a charging stallion. This time Paza made an attempt to jump on the zebra but he continued charging. She turned and fled but as the zebra returned once more to his herd, Penya was now coming in from the left and got very close, but was once more deterred by the stallion. After several more attempts, the lions finally had had enough and decided to give up and the stallion re-joined the herd as a hero.

Dingani

The youngest cubs at Antelope Park, the 3Ds, have been progressing well and recently began taking short walks out of their enclosure. They’re growing well and are enjoying all the new experiences being out in their natural habitat brings.